Highlights

• Lionel Messi is expected to win his eighth Ballon d'Or based on his impressive performances in the 2023 calendar year, including winning the World Cup with Argentina and achieving success with Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Miami.
• The voting process for the Ballon d'Or involves 100 journalists from the top 100 UEFA Nations, who each submit their top five player picks. Previous questionable votes from journalists, like Hafiz Marikar, led to a reduction in the number of journalists allowed to vote.
• Marikar's votes in previous years have been controversial, including ignoring clear winners like Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi and selecting players like Leonardo Bonucci and Trent Alexander-Arnold instead. These votes differed greatly from the overall consensus and impacted the final rankings.

On Monday, the greatest individual award in football takes place - the Ballon d'Or. One hundred journalists from the top 100 UEFA Nations have voted for who they think were the best five players during the calendar year of 2023 from a shortlist of 30 players. The first pick with get six points, the second pick will get four points, the third pick will get three points, the fourth pick will get two points and the fifth pick will get one point.

According to a number of reports, Lionel Messi will collect his eighth Ballon d'Or. The Argentine superstar helped his nation win the World Cup as well as lifting Ligue 1 and Trophee des Champions with Paris Saint-Germain as well as the 2023 Leagues Cup with Inter Miami. During that World Cup win, he picked up five Man of the Match awards during Argentina's seven matches, scoring in the group stage, last-16, quarter final, semi final and final. During the voting process, he also had the most goal contributions with 67 throughout 2023.

While there seems to be very little doubt regarding the eventual winner, it's always interesting to see how each of the 100 journalists votes. France Football cut down the journalist list to 100, where previously as many as 176 nations were represented in the vote. And perhaps Sri Lanka’s Hafiz Marikar is to blame for the reduction of journalists being allowed to vote.

That's because the Daily News journalist earned a reputation for some rather questionable votes during the 2017, 2018 and 2019 editions. Let's take you through the votes those three years.

Marikar's votes in 2017

1. Leonardo Bonucci (finished 21st)
2. David de Gea (finished 20th)
3. Radamal Falcao (finished 24th)
4. Eden Hazard (finished 19th)
5. Harry Kane (finished 10th)

Marikar first went rogue in 2017 when he completely ignored runaway winner Cristiano Ronaldo and second-place Lionel Messi. He didn't even vote for Neymar, who finished third. The best he managed was a solitary point to Kane, who ended up in 10th. Ronaldo had helped Real Madrid win the Champions League by scoring twice in the final against Juventus, He also scored 25 goals in 29 league games as Real won their first La Liga title since 2012. But all that good enough for Marikar. Instead, he looked towards a defender in Leonardo Bonucci. To be fair, the Italian helped Juventus to a league and cup double while they also reached the Champions League final. Bonucci ended up with 14 points meaning he picked up eight points from the other 175 journalists.

Marikar's votes in 2018:

1. Eden Hazard (finished 8th)
2. Roberto Firmino (finished 17th)
3. Paul Pogba (finished 15th)
4. Cristiano Ronaldo (finished 2nd)
5. Harry Kane (finished 10th)

Marikar once again ignored the clear winner - Luka Modric. Credit for him actually picking someone with an actual chance of winning in Ronaldo - although placing him 4th is baffling in itself. The four points Firmino was awarded by Marikar were the only points he picked up during the entire vote. For the first time since 2007, a player other than Messi or Ronaldo won the award and it was Modric for his role in helping Croatia to the 2018 World Cup final. The midfielder also helped Real Madrid win their third consecutive Champions League trophy. But what did Hazard do in Marikar's eyes to be voted as No.1? The Belgian scored 12 goals and registered four assists in the Premier League for Chelsea - although they finished fifth during the 2017/18 campaign. He scored three in the World Cup as Belgium finished third while he scored the only goal of the game to help Chelsea win the FA Cup against Manchester United. Hazard finished with 119 points suggested plenty of other journalists picked him in their top five.

Marikar's votes in 2019:

1. Trent Alexander-Arnold (finished 19th)
2. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (finished 20th)
3. Antoine Griezmann (finished 18th)
4. Robert Lewandowski (finished 8th)
5. Marc-Andre ter Stegen (finished 24th)

Perhaps Marikar's strangest set of votes yet. His top three votes finished 19th, 20th and 18th respectively which sums up just how wayward his ranking was. As you'll probably recall, the Ballon d'Or was a straight shootout between Lionel Messi and Virgil van Dijk with just seven points separating the pair. If Marikar had selected Van Dijk in first instead of Alexander-Arnold, the Ballon d'Or would have gone to the Dutchman. Instead, he ignored the two favourites - and Ronaldo in third - and went hipster once again. The 'best' pick of the lot was Robert Lewandowski in eight place. Alexander-Arnold only picked up eight points during the vote meaning that only a maximum of two other journalists would have picked him - and in fifth place. No other journalist picked Aubameyang, either. In fairness, Alexander-Arnold did have a decent season, registering 12 assists in 29 games in the Premier League. He helped Liverpool win the Champions League while they narrowly missed out on Premier League glory. But still...